A pilot program that would increase juror pay in four undetermined counties was sent to Gov. Gavin Newsom’s desk Sept. 7.
Assembly Bill 881 would increase juror pay to $100 per day, an increase of over 600% from the state base rate of $15 per day. The pay raise would only apply to jurors whose household income has been less than 80% of the median income of the county. The juror also must either be unemployed, self-employed or work for an employer who does not compensate for jury service.
The bill previously named Alameda, Kern, Los Angeles and Monterey counties as the courts benefitting from the program. A June 7 Senate amendment opened the counties up to the decision of the Judicial Council. The bill would direct the Judicial Council to pick courts that reflect urban and rural diversity.
The program would end in 2025. Courts have the option to end it earlier, if the court decides it is not in the interests of justice, or if it causes prejudice to the rights of litigants.
“In order to increase jury diversity in California, juror pay must be raised so that economic hardship is no longer a barrier to the fair delivery of justice,” the bill’s author, Assemblymember Phil Ting (D-San Francisco) said in a report.
The bill also extends a $100 increase for San Francisco jurors that was set to expire at the end of the year.
The raise is tied to a data collection program to see if the program increases juror diversity.
It passed the California Senate with a unanimous vote, and passed the Assembly 73-3, with Assemblymember Tom Lackey (R-Palmdale) in opposition.
No arguments in opposition were submitted to the Senate.
The Senate Appropriations Committee estimated the program to cost $4-$9 million in annual costs.
The pay increase would remain in effect until 2025.
In March, a Judicial Council workgroup said that jurors across the state should be paid more.
Juror pay has not kept up with inflation, and has only changed once since 1957, the Ad Hoc Workgroup on Post-Pandemic Initiatives said. The pay was increased to $15 per day in 2000.
In 1996, the Blue Ribbon Commission on Jury System Improvement recommended juror pay be increased to $73 in today’s money for the first 30 days, $91 after the first 30 days, and 50 cents for each mile traveled to and from the court.
Three consecutive attempts to increase pay to the $70 recommendation through the legislature failed.
Read the report here.
